Thailand Open: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty become first Indian pair to win Super 500 event

The Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty bounced back from a game down to stun reigning world champions Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen in the summit showdown of the Thailand Open and win their maiden Super 500 men’s doubles title at the Indoor Stadium Huamark in Bangkok on Sunday. 

Rankireddy and Shetty kicked off the final match of the men's doubles event on a positive note, claiming the nerve-wracking first game against the Chinese team with a margin of 21-19. 

However, the Indian duo failed to capitalise on the same and handed three straight points to their opponents to go down in the second before they rebounded strongly to ultimately claim a 21-19, 18-21, 21-18 triumph over Jun Hui and Yu Chen in a thrilling clash that lasted a little over an hour. 

With the win, Rankireddy and Shetty became the first Indian men's doubles pair to win a Super 500 tournament or above.

Rankireddy and Shetty's previous best performance came when they won Hyderabad Open Super 100 tournament in 2018 before they made it to the final of Syed Modi International Super 300 tournament in the same year. 

On Saturday, the Commonwealth Games silver-medallist booked their place in the final of the men's doubles event of the Thailand Open BWF Super-500 Tournament with a hard-fought 22-20, 22-24, 21-9 win against Korea's Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol.